The dog days of summer are behind us, and we’re already experiencing a few cooler days with lower humidity. This makes my mind start to wander in one direction, and that is 20 feet up a tree in a lock-on waiting on a deer to come within bow range.
Depending on where in the country you hunt, archery seasons for many of us will begin opening up this month. If you are like me, nothing takes up more of my time or thoughts than hunting fair-chase whitetails. Throughout the hunting industries, the advancement of technology has made hunting a lot easier. But even so, nothing is more difficult than to successfully have a mature whitetail within bow range without being detected. I am going to share a few tactics that helped me harvest my biggest bow buck to date back in Oct. of 2009.
The preseason scouting is in overdrive leading up to opening day, and you should have started putting together a plan to harvest a deer with your bow. The important things like stand placement and early food plots are done. Now the only chess move you have to consider is which stand you hunt with current wind and the likelihood of being in the right transition area. This time of year, it’s a matter of putting yourself where the buck, or bucks, you are after have been showing themselves on camera just before dark.
Having a good idea of where the deer bed is a good place to start. Deer can bed-up pretty much anywhere here in the rural South. There are woods everywhere, right? But think back to all your trail-cam pics. Which direction is the deer you’re hunting headed when it shows up on your camera just after dark. This might be the first clue to finding the transition area he his traveling through when headed to and from his bedding area and food source. My Big-8 from 2009 seemed to have a pattern of showing up and leaving the same area more often in one particular camera location.
The early fall can be frustrating, with hot days when deer movement will not occur until just before dark and more than likely close to a field edge or food plot. Fighting the humidity, mosquitoes and thermals are all worries when it comes to getting a deer within bow range. Make sure you have invested in a Thermacell to protect yourself from bugs, and properly wash in scent-free soap any and everything you plan to wear in the stand. If it can’t go in the washing machine, scent free spray is an effective tool to mask other odors. Also, make sure you are in the tree when a cool snap comes up on the weather radar.
The last tactic that will trump all other decisions or thoughts of tactics is the purpose of hunting all together. And for me that is enjoying the outdoors. Don’t be discouraged because you didn’t see a deer from the stand, be thankful for squirrels that kept you entertained or the noisy possum that you swore was a buck coming in just before the last bit of shooting light.
Sure you want to be successful in the field, and with a little patience and appreciation your shooter bow-buck will appear just as mine did. A cold front was pushing in from the north. The 5 ½-year-old 8-pointer stood directly under my stand. His 130 5/8-inch antlers had my heart thumping. I had caught him on his feet just before he was going to bed up for the day.
Joey Tinsley is a team member of Combat in the Wild, a group of Georgia boys that films hunts all over the world. For some great footage, see their website at www.combatinthewild.com, and check out the action-packed DVDs they have produced.
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